Cellphone stores common target, prior victims relive horror

Derek Gilliam

Tuesday

Jul 23, 2013 at 8:18 PM

As Samy Zahra lifts his shirt exposing where doctors cut into his side to remove bullet fragments, he remembers the night he was robbed, shot and left for dead at the Cellular Plus on Lem Turner Road in December.

When Zahra heard about Shelby Farah, the 20-year-old Metro PCS clerk killed Saturday night in a robbery, he knows he's lucky to be alive.

Jacksonville mobile phone stores have been the targets of robbers several times in the past couple of years.

Police said Tuesday night that an arrest was made in the Metro PCS case. They said further details would be shared Wednesday. While a suspect was not named, police on Tuesday arrested James Xavier Rhodes, 21, on charges of murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a weapon or ammunition by a felon.

Zahra said most of his customers paid in cash, and many cellphone retail locations allow for payment of electric and other bills.

Vaughn Dixon, manager of the Kings Road Boost Mobile store, said people often pay with cash in poor neighborhoods. While some locations allow customers to pay electric bills, he doesn't.

"It would make you a target," Dixon said Tuesday.

Zahra said when he was robbed in December, he had $1,200 in the store and fought the robber for control of the gun. He describes a fight where he had the gun turned on his attacker but couldn't pull the trigger.

"It's hard to take human life," he said.

The robber let go with his right hand, whipped out a knife and slashed Zahra before hitting him over the head three times with the gun. Zahra, 46, fell to the ground. He said the man then put the gun to Zahra's neck and pulled the trigger.

The bullet exploded into his body, fragmenting into four pieces. Three went into his right lung, and one is permanently lodged in his neck.

Dixon also was shot and robbed at the store he manages. The robbery occurred more than a year ago, but when the shooting at Metro PCS happened Saturday, the memories resurfaced as clear as ever.

He remembers his now 18-year-old daughter in the store and that it was unusually hot for a January. He said he greeted his attacker, like he does everyone and then noticed a mask.

The masked man told Dixon to give him the money. Dixon didn't think he would rob him because the man spoke with a soft voice. So he asked if he was serious.

Zahra, who sold the business on Lem Turner, said he doesn't like to be in his new workplace alone and some of his customers scare him.

He walks slow with each step measured and short. He has four children and a wife. He used to work two jobs to support his family, he said. While Victim Services helped pay his hospital bills, he still can't work as much as he would like.

"What am I supposed to do?" he said.

Tuesday, the North Main Street Metro PCS was still closed, but the Boost Mobile in the same plaza was open. Derrick Stewart, the owner there, called the robbery senseless and traumatizing.

"It could have been any one of us," he said.

Darlene Farah, mother of Shelby Farah, has been waiting outside the Sheriff's Office to see her daughter's killer once he's arrested. She's been there since Sunday and doesn't plan on leaving until the man responsible for her pain is in a jail cell.

"His face was the last face Shelby saw," Farah said. "So when he's brought in, I want to be the last face he sees."

She keeps a picture of Shelby with her and also wants him to see that face too.

"I've thought about nothing but from the day she was born to the day that she died," Farah said.

She hasn't started planning the funeral.

"I haven't even thought about burying my child," she said. "All I've been thinking about is Shelby and getting this guy off the street before he hurts somebody else."

Derek Gilliam: (904) 359-4619

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